BETTE’S WEEKEND MUSIC PICKS: Optometry and LCD Soundsystem Friday at the Shrine Expo Hall, Los Angeles
Let’s groove tonight, and Friday night, and all the nights
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The day I launched Jim Stewartson’s gofundme to fight back against Mike Flynn’s lawfare, I received an invite from Jonnie Houston to be his plus one to LCD Soundsystem performing outside of the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
I didn’t know much about the music of the electronic rock band from Brooklyn, but if the invitation was coming from Jonnie, who with his brother Mark are Hollywood nightlife impresarios, I was definitely going.
I owe The Cure and Chaka Khan at the Hollywood Bowl to Jonnie, and I am very grateful that my years as a music and nightlife columnist for the Los Angeles Times, along with my recent contributions to Los Angeles Magazine earned me an all access pass that doesn’t expire. I try to see as much music as possible in this one lifetime.
When I arrived on the scene, I was still finalizing Jim’s gofundme, and I pressed send to LCD Soundsystem performing Tribulations. I remember that precise moment.
I put it out there into the universe to these LCD lyrics:
Everybody makes mistakes
But I feel alright when I come undone
You are not making me wait
But it seems alright as long as something's happening
I try to make you late
But you fight me off like a fire does
You try making me wait
But it feels alright as long as something's happening
Get your payments from the nation
For your trials and tribulations
And the universe responded in kind — 487 donations later, Jim Stewartson has been able to defend himself — with 10 of the 14 charges already dropped and more to come. The work of Jim, my podcast partner in RadPod, was just featured in USA Today. We’re breaking on through to the other side, so to speak.
I often say that we must live our lives during trouble times documenting at least one exquisite moment daily. This is mine — recalling that memory, while listening to music, writing, reflecting on how when I pressed send on June 4, 2023, I somehow knew the universe of love would carry us.
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I still think about that night. Hearing New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down live for the first time. The lyrics so important to me that they became the lede in my Roy Cohn American Monster report.
New York, I love you…
The pages of Bette were always intended to be filled with music as well as politics, and truly, if we’ve done our job well, I will be able to dedicate more time to my first love in coming weeks.
When I heard that Optometry was opening for LCD Soundsystem on Friday, I decided to stop the presses, compelled to share with you some of their brilliant music and vision.
LCD Soundsystem, returns for an eight night residency in Los Angeles, beginning tonight through November 10. Optometry — aka John Tejada & March Adstrum — is their opener on November 1.
The duo will hit the stage at 8:15pm. The Goldenvoice show takes place at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles. More info here:
Optometry is the collaborative project of electronic music composer/DJ/producer John Tejada and singer-songwriter March Adstrum—
Check out their debut: After-Image.
Their sound — comprised of synths, drum machines, guitars, and bass — is lush and dreamy, urgent and full of life and loss and beauty — all the things.
The band's sophomore album is due in early 2025. The first advance single, “Comets,” was released this month, and a second single, “Antidote," drops on December 6th.
Of Fever Flashlights and Fever Dreams
“Comets” is the perfect soundtrack for all my trips to Joshua Tree — celestial, healing, a washing of the spirit.
You can check out the single here: https://hypeddit.com/j0c2h0, and I included it from YT at the bottom of this post.
I asked both the artists how they felt about opening up for LCD.
“When I found out that James Murphy was asking us to play, I was beyond stoked and shocked,” March Adstrum told Bette Dangerous. “I used to listen to LCD when I was 18 just discovering electronic music and my own identity as an artist. Their sound was so inspiring to me at that time in how it blended raw emotion with electronics, I had never heard anything like it! It is truly an honor to play this show, I never thought I would get to share the stage with one of my musical inspirations!”
John Tejada told Bette Dangerous: “I’m equally as excited as March to play this show with LCD. I’ve always appreciated what they do and how they blend different elements together into a fresh sound. I couldn’t be more happy to share the stage with March and to bring our own musical world to the shrine expo stage. It’s beyond exciting!”
Optometry (March Adstrum & John Tejada) performing live at Lodge Room in 2023. Photo credit: Jon Del Real.
I think of this journey through time and space, eight years in the suck exposing political treachery, but I also think of the music and spirit of the people I met along the way.
Music is what heals us and unites us. It’s the soundtrack to the stars.
As I wrote in Wash Our Spirits Clean, which was turned into a song:
“As long as there’s poetry, we endure.”
Have a listen to Wash Our Spirits Clean by DJ Oisin Lunny, from Geek Pie Radio 16th September 2023, where he mixed my "Wash Our Spirits Clean" podcast post with Starseeds "Elsewhere", taken from their seminal lost album of groovy electronica "Parallel Lives. The poetry starts a few minutes in.
As long as there’s poetry, we endure…
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More on LCD Soundsystem, Optometry, links, and show info here:
LCD Soundsystem Los Angeles Concert Dates:
More on Optometry here:
John Tejada is a Vienna-born, Los Angeles-based electronic music composer, DJ, and is a professor at CalArts. Tejada’s professional output of music began in 1994 and has never let up, including five albums for the revered label Kompakt, plus releases on Pokerflat, Cocoon, Plug Research, Seventh City, Playhouse, Defected, and his own label since 1996, Palette Recordings. Tejada has also been responsible for remixing more than 100 songs for acts including Orbital, The Postal Service, Télépopmusic, The Field, Bomb the Bass, Way Out West, Kevin Saunderson, Plaid, Psychic TV, Gui Boratto, Simian Mobile Disco, and many others.
John Tejada during Optometry performance at Lodge Room in 2023.
Photo credit: Jon Del Real.
March Adstrum
March Adstrum, raised by two Baroque violinists, was first influenced by the orchestral works of J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and George Friedrich Handel, among others. From the age of 6 months she traveled backstage with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Musica Angelica, and Portland Baroque Orchestra. At the same time she was being raised in a fishing village located in a temperate rainforest in the Pacific Northwest. Her family taught her to value human connection, nature, and kindness. As she learned about the state of the world, she realized that she wanted to bring something with a good heart into being that could perhaps help others feel less alone. At the age of 18, she moved to Los Angeles to study at California Institute of the Arts, where she discovered a great love for punk music, electronics, indie rock, and the D.I.Y. community. Her first official record, an EP, was released in 2021, entitled Veins, Vines, Cables.
March Adstrum during Optometry performance at Lodge Room in 2023.
Photo credit: Jon Del Real.
More on LCD Soundsystem:
Brooklyn natives and dance-rock legends LCD Soundsystem began creating their riveting blend of electronic and dance music in 2002 with a series of singles, the first of which was "Losing My Edge" one of their signature songs. This led to the release of the band's 2005 self-titled debut studio album. It garnered critical acclaim and a Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album. Sold-out tours, multiple awards, and top ten albums followed.
LINKS:
OPTOMETRY:
LCD Soundsystem w/ Optometry November 1 Tickets - axs.com/events/555124/lcd-soundsystem-tickets
Optometry Linktree - linktr.ee/optometrymusic
Optometry Instagram - instagram.com/optometrymusic
Optometry Bandcamp - optometry.bandcamp.com
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
LCD Soundsystem Website - lcdsoundsystem.com
LCD Soundsystem Instagram - instagram.com/lcdsoundsystem
LCD Soundsystem Facebook - facebook.com/lcdsoundsystem
LCD Soundsystem X/Twitter - twitter.com/lcdsoundsystem
JOHN TEJADA:
John Tejada Linktree - linktr.ee/johntejada
John Tejada Spotify - open.spotify.com/artist/2JWmMcE8Z0vapxOIiT7PLq
John Tejada Instagram - instagram.com/johntejadaofficial
John Tejada Bandcamp - johntejada.bandcamp.com
MARCH ADSTRUM:
March Adstrum Spotify - open.spotify.com/artist/17QXSCKQaFewEbnWkBAy6T
March Adstrum Instagram - instagram.com/march_adstrum
March Adstrum Bandcamp - marchadstrum.bandcamp.com
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Related:
Forever Young: Reflections on Bob Dylan at 80
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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Begin each day with a grateful heart.
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Gorgeous reading of your poem